The Oakville Dentist Blog

There is nothing as upsetting as breaking a tooth, right before a special event or holiday.

It's a couple weeks before Christmas and Robert snapped off a front tooth at lunch! Fortunately for Robert and me, the tooth was not part of the menu. He was able to save it and bring it in with him when he came to see me right after this happened. For that, I thanked him.

The tooth /root is badly damaged and will need to be removed and replaced by a dental implant. But that takes time and will not be done before Christmas. And while there are other ways to temporarily replace the missing tooth, nothing looks as natural or feels as good as your own tooth.

So after determining that the broken tooth fits back on nicely, I went to work bonding it back on to the root that was still solidly in his mouth and to the teeth near by to secure it as best I can.

It may last quite a while depending on how careful Robert is. I call this a "party tooth", Good for show, but not for biting into things. This will buy Robert time through the holidays. He told me it feels like nothing has ever happened and was delighted he did not have to cancel his afternoon business meeting.

This is not possible in all cases, but the moral of this story is to keep a broken tooth, even if it is just a piece of a broken tooth. Sometimes we can just put it back! I have one case where a youngster broke a tooth in half his front tooth. I was able to bond it back in place. It is still there looking good, 10 years later.